Ki Book One (14 page)

Gasping in pain, she pushed herself up, but
could hardly stand.

“
Damn it, we have to stop. You can’t go on
tonight. We’ll have to try to make camp somewhere.”

“
I can go on,” she lied.

He crossed his arms and shook his head,
expression disbelieving yet somehow charming. There was an amused
edge to it. “Sure, if I carry you?”

Flushing, she tugged at the collar of her
robe, ensuring it was as high as she could pull
it
. “That won’t be
necessary. I’ll be fine.”

“
You aren’t fine. Now come on, we’ll try to
find a wider cavern, somewhere with some flat ground. We might even
be lucky and get some ground water or an underground stream,” as he
spoke, his voice became distracted. Pulling up the scanner, he
fixed his attention on the screen. “I think I understand this thing
sufficiently to program it... if that’s the right term. I should be
able to track out some water, if we’re close enough.”

“
How long will that take?”

One cheek puckering as he flashed a
half-smile, he shrugged his shoulders
. “I thought you said you could go on?”

“
I just... wanted to know how long it would
take.”

“
Of course you did.” That half-smile still
fattened one of his cheeks. “Well... let me just...” he began to
manipulate the scanner, prodding it experimentally as he flicked
his gaze from the controls to the view screen.

“
Do you know what you are doing with
that?”

“
I’m a scientist.” His voice had a hard
edge to it.

“
Perhaps I should have a look? I’m may be
only a priestess, but I’ve seen enough people use those things over
the past year. I’m sure I might be able to....” She trailed off. It
was clear he wasn’t paying attention to her.

“
There might be water... just ahead of us.
To the left, down a side shaft... or it might be rock. I’m not sure
what I’m looking at.”

“
Give me a look.” Lifting her robe, she
tried to clamber around the large boulder that separated
them.

She did not get very far. As soon as she put
weight against her left foot, the ankle buckled. She fell
forward.

She did not fall this time though. Jackson
stumbled forward, catching her, the scanner slipping from his grip
and clattering to the ground.

There was a moment where he held her there.
She could feel his arms around her. Despite the fact she knew
exactly who this man was and where he came from, she could not deny
it reassured her.

“
Be careful,” he hissed through a breath.
It pushed out against her cheeks, tantalizingly warm considering
how cold this cave had made her.

Nodding, unable to speak, she waited for
him to prop her up against a large boulder to her side. Immediately
he turned and plucked up the scanner. Turning it around, he checked
it thoroughly before letting out a rattling sigh. “This thing is a
lot hardier than it looks.”

“
It does lodge into a scout’s
armor.”

He conceded her point with a
nod
. “I guess you’re
right. Still, I better not throw it around too much. I’m going to
need something to study when I get back to the Academy.” Though his
voice had started out even and casual, towards the end it dipped
lower.

Shifting back, he turned around.

Was he hiding his expression from her?

Perhaps. But it was a useless move; she
could still sense the tension washing off him. All that indecision
was eating him up from the inside.

She knew several techniques that would
help him alleviate it, but she would never suggest them. He would
no doubt take it as an opportunity to tease and degrade her
further. They also involved certain neuro pressure points, and for
some reason the prospect of touching Jackson’s back and neck sent
chills up her spine. She was a skilled and experienced masseuse,
but that was not enough to make her feel comfortable with the
prospect of laying hands on him.

Feeling uneasy, she flattened down her robe.
Patting at her cheeks, she was irritated to find them hot and
flushed.

“
I think I’ve spied some water this way,”
he mumbled, still with his back to her. “I’ll just see if I can
re-set this scanner.”

She watched his shoulders shift as he
manipulated the scanner. She could see them easily even under his
thick shirt. Though they were clearly strong, she could
note the tension turning them
in, the same tension that translated down his back and into his
legs. He would need a week of rest and relaxation to heal all that
stiffness. He would not get it.

“
I think this is it—” he began,

He did not get the opportunity to finish.
Immediately a high-pitched, keening sound erupted from the
scanner.

Jackson dropped it, clutching his hands to
his ears.

She screamed, falling off the boulder she
was seated on.

The sound was so high it felt like it was
shaking her in two.

Jackson was close though, and he doubled
over, clutching at the scanner, fumbling with it, obviously trying
to find a way to shut down the sound.

The gun clattered out from his grip as he
thrashed. His hands scrabbled so wildly that he knocked the scanner
away too.

As the noise built, the rocks above and
below began to shake. Dust erupted from the ceiling, rubble
showering down on them.

Above the noise of the shrill screech she
heard a rumble.

She didn’t have time to act.

The ceiling above gave way, huge chunks of
stone raining down.

The scanner was knocked towards her. She
scooped it up, using every scrap of emotional control she’d ever
developed to stop herself from dropping it just to get away from
the sound.

Hands shaking wildly, she forced her mind to
focus.

She recognized the buttons. Frantic, she
pressed them in sequence.

There was a soft beep, not that she could
hear it. Immediately afterwards the shrill noise ended.

Her ears ringing, her senses confused, she
let the scanner topple from her grip as she turned.

“
Jackson!” she screamed, ignoring the
lungful of dust she sucked in to shout his name.

Several small stones tumbled down from the
ceiling in a cloud of rubble, but that was it. The cave in, it
appeared, was over.

But she couldn’t see him.

Fraught, she scrambled forward, her
breathing frantic as she grabbed at the rocks, pulling them back
with strength she shouldn’t still possess.

“
Jackson,” tears washed down her cheeks,
tracking through the caked dust.

Trembling, she grabbed at a large stone, not
caring it sent a twinge deep into her back.

She saw his face.

Beyond desperation now, she moved as fast as
she could, pulling, yanking, and grabbing at the stones.

Time lost all meaning, she had no idea how
long it took her, but she uncovered him.

Pressing two fingers into his neck, she
waited in abject horror to find out if he was dead.

She couldn’t feel anything.

Yanking her hand away, letting out a
powerful, gut-wrenching whimper, she stumbled back. Falling onto
her behind, she scuttled backwards. Robe falling between her
exposed legs, she couldn’t stop staring at his still form.

He couldn’t be dead.

God.

He couldn’t be dead.

Crying, body rocking back and forth as the
sobs racked her, she shifted back further until her hand knocked
the scanner.

Lips open, salty tears trickling around them
and mixing with the harsh taste of powdered dust, she grabbed it
up.

She turned it towards him.

Despite the fact the air was still choked
with dust, she forced her eyes to open against it, thumbing the
scanner’s screen until it was clear enough to see.

She’d seen the so-called doctors in her
compound use these devices against her. They could register
someone’s state of health. Jackson had been able to do it that
morning. Just by setting it correctly, he’d been able to tell where
she’d been injured.

It could do more though. She’d seen
Zeneethians use them to emit some kind of healing field. She didn’t
have the requisite knowledge to understand how it worked, but she
could remember when they’d used it against her. Once or twice their
experiments had gotten out of hand. Another time she’d slipped
coming down the stairs into the laboratory.

Rarely had they used more than a scanner to
fix her injuries.

Fear gripping at her stomach, she tried to
manipulate it. With her heartbeat so wild it thrust her body back
and forth, she panted through the dust filled-air.

“
Come on,
come on
,” she clutched at the device, pressing every button she
could, burning through her memories, trying to recall the sequence
she’d seen those doctors use.

Tears misting her vision, she finally
watched the screen change. Those blue outlines zeroed in on
Jackson’s still body, somehow visualizing his insides. Areas of his
body flashed white: his right shoulder, his left leg, a section of
his stomach.

She had no idea what it meant.

“
Please,” she prayed, tears clearing her
muddied cheeks and catching over her lips as she spoke.

The scanner began to vibrate, now emitting
a warm, glowing, shifting field.

She almost dropped it.

The field travelled around her in a perfect
sphere.

It was familiar; she’d felt this same
glowing energy lap at her skin before, searching out her injuries
and healing them.

It was intoxicating feeling it travel deep
into every center of pain and dulling the sensation into
nothingness.

Intoxicating, yet she had to move away.

She pushed herself up and back from the
scanner, placing it gently on Jackson’s chest and moving back until
she was out of the field’s effect radius.

As soon as she left it, her heavy, biting
agony returned.

She hardly paid attention to it. Instead she
sat, gaze transfixed as she stared at him and waited.

The field would likely sap up all of the
scanner’s power. Even if it did not manage to heal his injuries, it
would soon be useless.

Those minutes were some of the most
fraught she’d ever experienced. Time became meaningless. Her own
symptoms were nothing but a distraction. All concentration and
attention she could muster she focused on him. On his chest. She
wanted it to move up and down. Take in a single breath, anything to
let her know he was alive.

As she waited, alarm trickled in, breaking
up what hope the scanner’s field was giving her. Rocking back and
forth, she burst into heavier tears. Dropping her head, she cupped
it in her hands.

She had not liked the man, but for it to
end like this....

She gave up. She crumpled in on herself,
truly succumbing to defeat.

Then she heard the gasp.

She snapped up, pushing to her feet and
teetering at the edge of the field, staring past it.

He was breathing.

God, he was alive.

Kneeling, a hand reaching up and brushing
against the edge of the field but never going through it, she
watched.

He breathed.

There she waited until the field gave out
completely. She had no idea how long it took, but eventually it
flickered and died. Seconds later the distinct blue glow of the
scanner disappeared. With barely a click, it shut down.

Moving forward, still on her knees, not
caring that the sharp rocks cut into them, she placed a hand flat
on his chest. It moved up and down. Fingers spreading, she could
feel his warmth.

Brushing at the dust that had covered his
face, she shifted him out of his bed of rock, finding a flat place
to lay him on.

Then she did what she could.

The priestess clan were skilled in many
healing techniques. She would now have to pick up where the scanner
left off.

Chapter Nine

He woke with a start. Something wasn’t
right.

His body lagged behind his mind. It was
filled with a distinct and unusual warmth.

It was the strangest of feelings. It felt
like every part of him, every limb, every cell even, was lifting
up, floating on high. It was as if he were being dragged into
heaven, piece by piece.

He basked in it.

It did not last though.

After a while, his body seemed to catch up
with his mind. He began to distinguish between his senses. He felt
something hard underneath him, his stomach and cheeks were cold,
and the air around him smelt of a strange, stagnant musty
dankness.

It scratched at the insides of his nostrils,
making his throat itch.

Coughing, he rocked forward a little.
Instantly a small, soft hand pushed into his shoulder, guiding him
back down.

It made him realize something still wasn’t
right. It made him remember.

He tried to snap forward.

She wouldn’t let him. Ki locked him in
place.

“
You’ve been injured,” she said gently. She
was close, her breath soft against his cheek.

He opened his eyes.

She was sitting behind him, her head coming
into view above, her hair trailing over one shoulder and brushing
against his arm.

Concern ran deep through her brow, pushing
her lips into the thinnest frown he’d seen her show.